Fesh powder

[H4831]

Here is what good, fresh, Hodgdon's H4831 powder looks like. Bright clean, no discoloration, not eroding, or starting to powder and the smell is of newly opened smokeless powder.
How fresh is fresh?
In the mid 1960s it was still being sold in 50 pound kegs, as war surplus powder. A small sporting goods store was purchasing it for $18 a 50 pound keg, delivered to their store in central BC. To promote handloading, the store sold it for fifty cents a pound, usually doled out in 5 pound lots, weighed on the store's scale and put in a paper bag.
The picture is of some of mine which I still have, which came from one of those kegs.
I was just reloading some of it, when I thought abut taking a picture, showing how fresh it still looked.

 

[bearhunter]

In 1970, I picked up a 50 pound keg or H4831 at Ed Karrer's Gunatorium, just out of Milhaven. I paid $10US for it. Then, like now the Canadian dollar was worth about 15 cents more than its US counterpart. Thinking back though I was making $2.75/hour at that time. After taxes, it was still a half days work to pay for it. Still, it was a screaming deal even for those days.

I ended up buying 5 kegs that day. My buds back home paid me enough for them so that my keg was free. I bought a couple of more kegs a few months later. The next time I went down, around Christmas, it was all gone. I still have about 10 pounds of that powder and it is just as good now as it ever was. Thanks for sharing that old memory Bruce. Those were certainly "golden days" for shooters in many ways.

 

[Otto V]

This has nothing to do with surplus powder, but in the late 70's, Giovani's Gun Shop sold me a couple of pounds of powder, dispensed from a large container into a small brown paper bag (I don't remember what type of powder it was but I used it for 12 gauge reloads). Try that in this day and age.

 

[Nick0danger]

This has nothing to do with surplus powder, but in the late 70's, Giovani's Gun Shop sold me a couple of pounds of shotgun powder, dispensed from a large container into a small brown paper bag (I don't remember what type of powder it was). Try that in this day and age.

Not liked it comes out of dispenser, but when i buy powder the sales guy just toss it over the counter to me and i go pay for it up front.

 

[Eagleye]

I bought a bunch of that surplus H4831 in the mid sixties as well.
In paper bags, I paid $.75/lb for it, so stocked up with a fair bit.
I have long since burned it up.
I do have a small quantity of N205 left.
It was discontinued in favor of the very similar Norma MRP in the 60's.
It is still as fresh as the day I bought it.
I save it for a particular load in my 7x57.
Regards, Eagleye.

 

[bearhunter]

When old Tom wasstill alive and kicking, Higginson's was bringing in several different types of bulk powders. I used to talk with Tom a lot over the phone and was saddened when he passed on. He had some great powders. #44, which was similar to 3031 at $4/lb shipped as well as several others. There was one powder OEM4350 that was nothing more than N160, it came in 7lb boxes in bulk. Great prices.

I need to go back and check out that site. I haven't looked at it in years. See how Andrew is doing. He doesn't like to play with the bulk over runs like Tom did. That H414SL10 is one of the best and most consistent ball powders I've come across. To bad it was a special Winchester powder for some of their early "light" magnum ammunition. Other than the stuff Tom had, it was never available commercially to hand loaders